3766
3767

As I said upthread, tanking this bill would have made most Republicans look very bad to much of their base (who stand to benefit the most from the jobs, improvements and money that will come out of this bill). Since there is no corporate tax increase, social services expansion or other GOP rallying point baked into the bill it didn’t make sense to take that kind of a hit just to prevent a perceived “win” for Biden (though the bat-shit crazypants caucus of the GOP will disagree).

Now McConnell and the rest of the GOP know they can campaign for 2022 on the platform of : “We gave you a bipartisan infrastructure bill that spent $1.2 trillion on improving America’s infrastructure and creating thousands of jobs. Now the Democrats want $3 trillion MOAR to enact their SOCIALIST AGENDA! Even worse, they want to pay for it by driving corporations OUT OF AMERICA with tax increases, and they’re coming after the hard earned income of all of you would-be one percenters by increasing taxes on the wealthy (Because you ARE wealthy, aren’t you? Of course you are!). Don’t let those dirty communist anti-Americans get away with improving things like healthcare, education and the environment! That is a direct attack on AMERICAN VALUES and YOUR FREEDOMS!”

3768

Would it be fair to call the republican focus on top down laws that restrict local governments freedom socialism? I know its actually anticapitlistic corporate protection, but socialist republicans has a good beat - you can dance to it.

3769

Nah. Anti-Federalist works though and half of them call themselves Federalists of one sort or another.

Bonus is that you can quote Hamilton at them.
And Rand Paul, which is extra hilarious.

Sadly none of their supporters understand federalism or care. They want a king that lets them keep their guns.

3770

FWIW, only two Republican Senators up for re-election (Grassley and Murkowski) voted for the bill.

3771

I mean, whether this passed or not has almost no bearing on how they will campaign. Tons of Republicans who voted against various relief measures have campaigned on how helpful the various things were. Republican spin should never get in the way of getting something good passed because they will spin the same shit whether it passes or not.

3772

What I wish is that the dems squashed talk of filibuster reform long enough to get the base infrastructure bill through. That gets a “major accomplishment” tag on Biden’s presidency. Then go ditch the filibuster and get voting rights legislation.

Sadly, I think there is zero chance that is the strategy.

3773

There is zero chance to do this and never has been. This could never have been the strategy, even though it would have been good.

3774

Yeah I think if they could have done it, it would have been done by now.

3775

The bard has just bonked you over the head with his lute for not understanding that “ghast” doesn’t rhyme with “Mitch”. “Lich” does.

3776

Pffft, like the bard could hit my AC.

3777
3778

Psaki shutting Doocy down is turning into such a kink for me.

Wait did I type that out loud? Whoops. Erase erase erase.

3779

If Tom can be open about Sarah Palin, you have nothing to fear.

3780

Ted Cruz is a complete Dick.
Although, that really isn’t news.

3781

The (alleged) Zodiac Killer is not a good person? Quelle surprise!

3782

Or, in true “old-speak” for those of us who remember typing on terminals connected to hosts running VMS or Unix waaay back in the 80s and earlier, ^H^H^H.

http://wooledge.org/~greg/^H.html

3783

Of course, in true Republican style, Ted will then use this to blame Biden of failing to confirm anyone. I swear, if my eyes roll anymore I will start hearing the Katamari Damacy theme song.

3784

I had to use that last week. Admittedly I was connecting to a 15 year old HP-UX server and trying to use setterm to get the terminal shit lined up right. But it’s still relevant tech trivia!

3785

So one of the newest ones, then.